Battle of the Book Covers: STAINED vs STAINED by Cheryl Rainfield

New Cover

I'm a big fan of Cheryl Rainfield. We met on Twitter and she's always been dear to my heart after  reading her book SCARS. It's based on her true life story of sexual abuse and terrible mistreatment and abuse during her early years. SCARS was published by a small publisher. Cheryl didn't anticipate the book making it into big bookstores. I was so excited to let her know when I spotted it in Barnes & Noble! Now Cheryl is moving up in the publishing world. Her newest book, STAINED  is being published by a major publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for Young Readers! Yay! B&N has already signed on---and herein lies the rub: B&N didn't like the original book cover. They requested that it be changed.


Original cover

You may not realize it, dear reader, but a major book store has a lot of influence on a book's cover. If they don't like it, they can refuse to carry the book. That's a huge motivator to get a cover they're more comfortable with.

In this case, I think they're wrong. That's just my humble opinion of course. I'm looking at it from the simple position as a reader. STAINED is greatly influenced by Cheryl's personal experience with abuse. (Search for Cheryl's interview on this blog.) It's about a teen's experience when she is kidnapped and abused by her captor--both sexually and emotionally. Although Cheryl wrote her novel before recent events in the news, it's a ripped from the headlines echo of the crazy story of the man who kidnapped those four girls and held them captive for a decade.

B&N felt the original cover was too graphic. Really? The girl is shown being held captive. You totally know what this tale is about immediately. With the recent kidnapping revelations, it's an immediate draw. It's not like the cover model is showing her nude body. I think they're playing it too safe. Like I said, I know it would definitely catch my attention on the shelf, but I'm not a publishing professional, just a humble reader.

In any case, add it to your reading list. It releases October 1,  2013.

What do you think? Which cover do you like best?

Toodles, ya'll!